A voice and accent can help imbue authenticity to an artist who has some country in their vibe. While S.G. Goodman’s Kentucky cadence is clear as a bell throughout her three full-length releases, simply referring to what Goodman does as country would be selling her short. The hallmarks are all there — great songwriting, high and lonesome instrumentation — but Goodman’s voice is an interstellar, poetic instrument.

We were first introduced to that powerful voice with the subtle, indie folk, rural-rooted Jim James-produced 2020 debut LP, Old Time Feeling. Her sophomore record Teeth Marks reached further into the esoteric, with a wide sonic palette painting outside the lines of Goodman’s lived in tapestries of hard times lived through by good people. On her latest, 2025’s Planting By The Signs, Goodman pushes the beat forward with propellant rhythms before settling back into the depths of tribulation — of life and hope and love and death — until tying all of life’s messes together with a slow burning epic grandeur.

S.G. Goodman doesn’t just have the voice and the accent, she has the songwriting chops and the good taste to deliver the future of country music before everyone else finds out it’s arrived.

- Mike Dunn